I love you all. I hope you know that, because it is extremely important you remember it. My sincerest apologies, I have had the absolute worst couple of weeks and am finding it really hard to make everything in life work, but that is no excuse. I wanted to post this on V-Day, but a) the internet wasn't working and b) I realised this chapter wasn't good enough for you loyal readers, so I re-wrote the start which is hopefully better than what I had orignially intended to publish.

I have finally also made an outline for the story, and it seems we have another 10 chapters to go. But first I have to get down to business and write the last couple of them, so hopefully I can finish this up soon. Thanks once again to Zoe6 for dealing with the unreliable emailer and writer that I am; forever am I in your debt. Thanks to all my loyal readers who continue to want to read the story, I have no idea why you put up with me, but it makes my day that you do. Feel free to write about it in a review ;) My love to you all, and enjoy!

Lucas grabbed her wrists and roughly shoved her to the ground, adjusting so the gun was placed at the pack of her head. Lucas pushed the sonic to her head; he was ready with the killshot. Alicia was praying that what she saw was correct because otherwise the situation was going to get a lot worse, if that was even possible. She heard everyone take a breath in as Lucas gave her some departing words.

"Say hello to my mother for me."

"Lucas. Don't do this." Taylor called out surprising Lucas, this gave Wash the opening she needed, and it was perfectly timed. While Lucas was momentarily distracted, Alicia threw all her weight back into Lucas effectively knocking him back. Her head went violently into his stomach, caught off guard he stumbled back. Alicia pulled herself to her feet achingly and slow; turning to face Lucas but his father had already taken him down.

Lucas had planned the whole execution perfectly, thinking through every possible variable and he had told her so. She was glad to know that somehow, though completely exhausted, she had managed to find the one flaw in his plan. Her fighting back. He had expected it while she was hostage, but not when she was about to die and running on virtually nothing. Especially since she had already opted to die for the sake of the colony. Alicia had figured he would assume that all the damage that had been done to her body would restrict her from making any rash movements to stop him shooting her. But his father had trained her - to fight back at all costs. He had taught her that bodies could be mended, but not if they were dead. Pain could be dulled without dying. She was a fighter and damn Lucas if he thought she would die without putting up a fight. Cuts and bruises, however severe would not stop the soldier in her; and it would most certainly not stop her urge to fight back.

Taylor had also taught his soldiers a personalized form of Morse code, and that in any hostage situation blinking was the perfect way of getting a message across to the unit.

Alicia watched as the rest of the soldiers and Sixers cocked their guns, though neither side took the next step and shot. Mira held her hand up to tell hers to stop pointing at Alicia and the soldiers, and Alicia turned to look at the rest of the colony and nodded in a general direction for them to lower their weapons as well. Taylor had Lucas handcuffed on the ground before pulling him to his feet. Taylor kicked the shell to Jim and looked to Mira.

"Do you want him?"

"We'll find a use for him." Mira nodded, walking over to receive Lucas. Alicia could see Lucas was fuming, but wasn't troubled by it or the fact that her commander had just passed his son straight back over to the Sixers. Before Mira got into the rover, she pulled a key from Lucas' front pocket and threw it to Taylor.

"You really should take more care of her." Mira said as she departed, Alicia watched as her captors drove away. She turned to Taylor as he came forward and unlocked her wrists and ankles. He stood up in front of her and she looked straight at him. With only a moment's pause, Taylor pulled her into a hug and the otherwise silent Terra Nova erupted with cheers. But after only a moment of celebration, the agony Alicia had been through for the last day hit her and she slumped into his hug, unable to hold herself up again.

"Alicia."

"I can't hold myself up sir, I'm sorry."

"Don't ever apologize, please. I'm just glad to have you back, but I think it would be best if we got you to the infirmary." Alicia nodded into his chest in response and she tried to pull away, but her legs started to crumble from underneath her. Luckily Taylor had been in the same position with her weeks earlier and had her in his arms before she could even begin to protest. He gathered her up and they started towards the gates. Alicia was embarrassed and felt sheepish as he carried her home, but the smiles on everyone's faces; Jim's, Reynolds, the rest of the soldiers as they all pat Taylor on the back and gave her encouraging and praising words, she soon left the humiliation behind. She even started to smile a little, but the injuries were really starting to have an impact on her and she was struggling to conceal it. The group of soldiers, herself and Taylor walked through the gates, but at this point Taylor had noticed the change in Alicia and was going at a much faster rate, heading towards a very nervous Elisabeth.

"Welcome back Alicia, I'm sorry about this but I need you to give me a catalogue of injuries as we walk, you're going straight into surgery once we arrive." The mood was broken as the doctor got to the issue at hand. The soldiers slowly peeled off, patting each other on the back and relaxing. Only Jim and Reynolds stayed.

"Broken left index finger and right wrist, sprained ankle, broken cheekbone and possibly my nose as well, severe bleeding and bruised... Everywhere and all the lacerations on my legs have been reopened." Alicia presented the information the doctor needed calmly, but could see on everyone else that the list had made them all very uncomfortable and worried. "But I'm fine."

"Alicia, please, just let Doctor Shannon help you." Reynolds said, evidently upset at her injuries.

"I'm here Reynolds and I'm alive, stop worrying."

"Alicia how bad are your legs?" Although she wanted to sugarcoat for the company, she knew that it was necessary information.

"Extremely... they had iron bars." She felt Taylor tense his arms around her, and saw the rest of the group act similarly. She paused, about to continue about the fact that they had known about the injuries. Alicia wanted to bring up the three soldiers who had learnt about her injuries through Taylor, before she recalled the scene she had left behind in the jungle.

"Alicia?"

"Thomas is dead." Alicia said, feeling awful about the events that had transpired. She felt a pang in her stomach as she remembered his death. Taylor hugged her a bit closer, but this further reminded her of the pain. She clenched her eyes closed, as if to block out it out.

"Commander we need to get Alicia to the infirmary right now." Elisabeth stated, and she could plainly hear the anxiety. Even Alicia was struggling to work out how she was conscious and not dead. The injuries she had sustained were all severe in their own manner. She could hear both Jim and Reynolds make a fuss over her closed eyes. With the doctor's urging, she felt Taylor speed up, but not enough that it could inflict pain on her.

But she was already done for; she could see the black haze that she had grown all to accustomed too.

Alicia slowly woke up from her sleep, opening her eyes to the inside of the hospital, another all too familiar place. But this time she had her own section of the building, with several chairs beside the bed. She blinked a few times, before trying to prepare herself for the pain. Instead there was a numb sensation throughout her body; she would usually worry about such things except this was medicinally induced.

"Decided to join us again Wash?" The Commander asked, seated in one of the chairs beside her.

"I knew you would be lost without me." Alicia joked back, and she saw him smile - she figured it was a good sign she was making a joke, even at his expense. "How long was surgery this time around?"

"You're keeping Dr Shannon busy, that's for sure. This time around it was roughly..." The Commander paused to check his watch. "Seven or eight hours, probably longer. You've been out cold the whole day." He finished, leveling her with a serious gaze. She watched as he took in a deep breath, looking over her damaged and bandaged body.

"Nathaniel" She watched as he almost jerked from the use of his first name. "I'm okay."

"Alicia... Don't tell me it's okay when it's most certainly not. That was a whole day I had to sit here, and do nothing while I waited for Doctor Shannon to confirm you were alive. They didn't even know if you were going to make it, and I couldn't do a damn thing about it except for sit and wait. Damn it, you nearly died on me Alicia!" He cried, as he stared at her, all his anxiousness on show in the private setting. She gingerly lifted her right arm, which had been placed in a cast to immobilize her broken wrist, and caught hold of his hand.

"I'm here, and I'm not planning on going anywhere." She assured him, trying to comfort him. He was a man who never really came out from behind his mask; his emotions were always restrained, just like hers. She knew she was capable of being his undoing and this only proved it, but it was the same vice versa. Alicia was normally a stoic and unemotional woman, but Taylor was always the one that threw her off balance.

Before they had time to recover, Elisabeth Shannon walked into the room. Taylor immediately tried to pull his hand back, but she kept a strong grip – well, speaking in relative terms. Elisabeth was smart enough to not to look between them for the moment, but instead crossed to the other side of the bed to look at Alicia's vitals.

"Good morning, I heard voices so I wanted to come in and check up on you. Alicia I have to tell you, you gave us a mighty scare," Elisabeth frowned as she looked at the cheek, which had been broken, as well as peering at her nose. "That was not an easy surgery and it was not short, but everything seems to be looking stable for the moment. How are you feeling? How much pain is there in your body?" The doctor continued, looking over more of Alicia's injuries.

"I feel like crap, but the pain isn't too bad, the drugs have done a pretty good job of numbing my body, but I can start to feel it fading slightly." Alicia explained, starting to feel niggles all across her body as the numbness started to slowly drift away.

"I can't imagine you would be feeling any differently, I'll turn the IV up slightly while you're awake, but it should still be having an effect on the pain." Elizabeth finished as she focused intently on several machines that were surrounding her patient.

"I just wanted to say thank-you Elisabeth, for everything." Alicia said, unable to rely on her nonexistent emotional skills. She knew how much effort and hard work the doctor had put in over the last few weeks to help Alicia and she wanted to acknowledge the woman in some way. Even if she really struggled with emotional conversations.

"It's my pleasure, you have been somewhat of a medical challenge for me, keeping me on my toes. But I'm just glad that you're alright." Elisabeth said smiling at Alicia. Alicia was glad that Elisabeth hadn't gone any further; she didn't think she could handle any more emotion in one morning. She just wanted to show her appreciation for the hard work. "I want to turn you over to look at your legs, but I think you have a few too many injuries to make that possible, so can you tell me how they feel, if you can in fact feel the cuts?" Elisabeth asked slipping straight back into doctor mode. Alicia could feel her gel pillow underneath the cuts, and was comforted by the thought someone had brought it for her. They had started to throb slightly, and the pressure of sitting on them was getting to be quite uncomfortable.

"They are still sore from lying on them, but the pillow is helping. They are throbbing slightly, but I think the drugs have taken care of most of it." Alicia explained to the best of her ability in her drugged state.

"Everything looks to be stable for the moment and since it is 5am and I have been waiting for you to wake up, I am going to head home and try and get some sleep. Commander, you should think about doing the same, she's awake now so you can go home and try and get some sleep before the rest of the colony wakes up. There are still a few nurses here if you need them, but you should be alright for the next few hours. Is there anything I can get either of you before I leave?" The doctor asked, looking between the two of them.

"I think we're okay here thanks Doc, go home and get a good sleep. I will be fine too. Tell Jim to come over and bring Reynolds with him, please." Taylor said, breaking his silence from across the small room. Alicia nodded in agreement and smiled at the doctor in thanks.

"Of course Commander, rest easy Alicia." Elisabeth said smiling before she left the room and Alicia nodded at her.

"Why do you want them?" Alicia asked her commanding officer a few moments later, curious as to the order.

"Your legs, the Sixers knew about the injuries." Taylor said as a muscle twitched in his jaw. He instinctively clutched her hand tighter. She normally would appreciate the gesture if it were to occur, except the added pressure on her hand made her wince, in a very unAlicia-like manner. The Commander quickly let go of her injured arm, looking apologetically at her.

"Sorry Wash, I just want to get to the bottom of this and find out who was responsible. Someone from inside this colony leaked that information to the Sixers ... And Lucas. No one gets away with betraying Terra Nova, and most definitely no one is getting away lightly with kidnapping or injuring my lieutenant." He offered, she nodded in response to the apology. Wait, my lieutenant? Taylor seemed perfectly fine about the ownership in the sentence, so she ran with it.

She started to explain the predicament they had been placed with, but Jim and Reynolds walked into the room - though the information was relevant to both of them so she continued. Both of them looked puffed and were pink in the cheeks, Alicia knew they had rushed here. Reynolds she figured had been on patrol, and Jim would have been on a walk. She knew he did that when he was stressed, maybe he was hoping for a Sixer to jump out so he could let off a little steam.

"The Sixers obviously knew about my injuries, so someone here at Terra Nova must have leaked it to them. But no one had any knowledge about my injuries except for everyone here, Elisabeth and Guzman. The three soldiers were the only other ones who had any idea; Ladler, Brennan and Thomas..." Alicia drifted off, remembering Thomas again.

"Then there's a leak in either Brennan or Ladler. Did you two see if they were still here on your way in?" The Commander asked the two new arrivals.

"No sir, they were discharged last night. They both received only minor injuries." Reynolds answered confidently. He looked to Alicia, losing his facade slowly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Reynolds, just a little roughed up. Don't worry about me." He gave a pleading look in response. While she knew he was ready to make a big fuss, she was just as ready to sweep the injuries under the rug and move on. But it was easier said than done - although she had not specifically been told how long she would be out for the count, she knew it would be much longer than she would ever be able to deal with.

"You sure Wash?" Jim asked, even his usual comedic personality was put on hold to make sure she was okay. Although Alicia had spent years without a family, she still considered herself without one here. But the worry that was felt over her by the many people at Terra Nova had challenged her beliefs. Between the Shannon family, her "little brother" Reynolds and several other soldiers including the ones she had trained, she found it hard to convince herself she was still alone. Then there was Taylor. She didn't even know where the two of them were at, but she knew they had been watching each other's six since either of them can remember. They both trusted each other with their lives; they had been to Somalia and back and survived. Although there was no word to suit their relationship, it had survived the ages.

"I'm fine, I'll be better once I get out of this damn hospital, but that's beside the point. Brennan and Ladler need to be found immediately. I don't know which one is the leak, but they have both been presented with mild privy information on problems with outposts and other information that we don't want the Sixers to have access to. That is if our informant hasn't already told them." Alicia said, making the chase that little bit more frantic and important.

"Shannon, Reynolds, find them both as quickly as possible, and try not to make too much of a fuss or bring attention to yourselves. Take them straight to the brig, and then let me know once you're there. I'll be doing the interrogations this time around." Taylor ordered as Reynolds and Jim left, both glancing towards Alicia as she gave an unusual encouraging smile to them before they made a hasty exit. She turned to look at the Commander, no longer evidently upset over her, but hell bent on working out who was the cause to her pain.

"Don't do anything you will regret." She said pleading, it was not quite meant to come out that way but it got his attention nonetheless. He gave her a look; it told her that he had to get to the bottom of it. He was almost sorry, but he really wanted to make the bastards pay for it.

"You just rest up Wash, don't worry about me." He replied coolly before getting up, giving her hand a small squeeze and leaving her with only the machines to keep her company.

P.S. If you thought I was going to kill her, please take a moment and understand I cried for an hour when she did "die" (She is not dead. End of story.) No way was I putting myself through that again. Or any of you!